Cloth Diapering: Newborn Edition

Just when I thought I had mastered the art of cloth diapering my little girl, I decide to cloth diaper our second little girl from birth. When I made the decision to use cloth on Natalia she was already 9 months old. It was a decision made in an effort to save money and because I was so tired of messy poop explosions, nasty little gel blobs left on her skin from the disposables, and having a portion of the box of disposables be defective with tabs ripped off or something. Even after a year and a half, there were still corners of the cloth diaper world I had yet to venture to but cloth diapering a newborn has exposed me to a few of those uncharted territories.

Prefolds

Is it really so hard to believe that I’d never used prefolds before? For someone who chose cloth to save money, it probably is a little odd that I didn’t use prefolds since they are such an affordable option. You have a few different options for different types of newborn prefolds which include Indian or Chinese cotton, bamboo, and hemp. I have just over a dozen plush, newborn cotton prefolds. Admittedly, the idea of different folds scares me a little and I knew that if I wanted to make things as easy as possible on my hubby that we would just go the route of a pad fold. Basically you just tri-fold the prefold and then lay it in a cover.

I did actually get a free set of diaper pins but I was so worried that I would poke my baby girl so I actually only tried to use them and do a real “fold” maybe twice. You can also pick up a pack of snappis for pretty cheap and use those in place of the pins. They’re a safer alternative that don’t run the risk of poking your baby yet still manages to grip the prefold well enough to keep it snug.

*At 10 weeks, Kaliah is weighing 10 1/2 pounds and we are still using the prefolds full time with her covers.

Fitteds

I used the newborn Rocket Bottoms pattern to make my own fitted cloth diapers. These have a cotton outer fabric, hidden fleece layer to repel moisture and a soft cotton velour inner fabric. Since I had limited covers, I could get more uses out of them by using the fitted diapers since they had their own elastic around the legs to hold in those runny poops that newborns have.

Fitteds are made to act as absorbency and usually to be used with a cover. With these, I was able to get a fit that contained the mess, yet could still absorb an incredible amount of pee. Believe it or not, I make this exact style of diaper for my toddler and the fleece is enough to make it leak proof for 6-8 hours if necessary without a cover, yet I found that I needed them for the baby.

Just an added note, but I also chose to make these in the style of an AI2 (All-in-two). This way I can still get the added absorbency of the snap in inserts but they don’t take forever to dry after washing since they aren’t all one thick piece.

*To give you an idea, This photo was taken at 10 days old to show the fit. Kaliah is 10 weeks now and 10 1/2 pounds and we are outgrowing diapers made from the Rocket Bottoms pattern this week. She can still fit on the very last snap setting but the leg elastic is getting too tight.

Covers

How is it that I had never used covers before our second baby? I know, take me out back and shoot me now, right? All that really matters is that I’ve been introduced to them now and they will forever have a place in our stash, no matter the size. Our newborn stash has 2 Thirsties Duo size 1 covers and a Rumparooz newborn cover.

Thirsties Duo wraps come in two different sizes; 1 and 2. The size 1 is supposed to go from 6- 18 pounds. At 10 1/2 pounds we are still using it with the smaller rise setting. I’ll be sure to update when we move to the larger setting and then again when they are finally outgrown. The Rumparooz says it will fit to 12 pounds and I’m guessing that will be about right for us. There are no rise setting and although she could go longer on the waist settings, the rise will probably become too short at about 12 pounds. I’ll keep this post updated once we officially outgrow it. 😉

I also have a one-size Best Bottoms cover from Nicki’s Diapers. Once I had gotten the other 3 covers, I realized how handy they were and actually decided to make this diaper for the baby rather than the toddler. You can see how it fits on our baby in this photo. This cover will be around for quite a while, I mean, it even fits my 2 1/2 year old with plenty of room for her to grow.

Learning the ins and outs of cloth diapering my baby from birth was definitely a good experience. My poor baby got a really bad cough at about 6 weeks and was on antibiotics for a week and in disposables. She had so many little blowouts and there were even a couple times where the cheap tabs would get caught on the inside of her clothes at night and pull off. That made for a fun morning. In contrast we have not had one single blowout from any opening in our cloth. She has had some really bad poops and although it may have been in every little fold of skin that her diaper was covering, it didn’t seep out at all.

Hence, why I love our cloth diapers so much. <3

Have you cloth diapered from birth?

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I cloth diapered both of my younger ones from the time we got home from the hospital. We only used one size diapers, though, since they were both bigger babies. (Now I need to borrow someone’s small baby to diaper so I can give better advice for Cloth for a Cause!)

I diapered my 7th child from birth for the first time this year and it was a wonderful experience. Makes me want another baby! Yikes! Love the picture of the Best Bottom on your little one. Don’t often see those on newborns.

I am shocked by how awesome the Best Bottom fits! Now I really want to get one or two for my babe that is due at the end of August. Great review – love the pictures! And the fitteds you sewed are adorable.

Thanks! Yes, I was really excited about the fit of the Best Bottom also. I needed more covers than I had initially thought and it really added some time before I had to wash again by getting another cover in the rotation.

Stopping by for a second time because I just can’t get over how cute that Best Bottoms is on your baby girl! This is a brand I never got to try on Erik. Also….if I failed to tell you before, the site design is gorgeous! Love the pink and black.

My sisters planning on cloth diapering from birth with her new baby. She doesn’t like fitters, so we don’t have any of those. We have a ton of covers, though, so changing them out shouldn’t be an issue. She’s going to try prefolds with snappis or boingos.

[…] Cloth diapering a newborn is new for me. We’re at this awkward stage now that she is 2 1/2 months where she is too big for our newborn diapers yet not quite big enough for our one size diapers since most of them are thicker fitteds. I recently purchased a snappi and thought I would use it with our prefolds, only to realize Kaliah is already too big to use the prefolds in the conventional way. I have one flat diaper–I’m not even sure where it came from. I decided today that I was going to try folding it and using the snappi since I was down to only one or two prefold left to use with the covers. […]